


Adapt

by gleeksfreaksandwannabes



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Big Brother Alec, Family Dynamic, Future Fic, Jalec Friendship, M/M, Malec Children, Mentioned Clace, magnus is cranky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-26 01:23:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7554718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gleeksfreaksandwannabes/pseuds/gleeksfreaksandwannabes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Alec answered a knock at the front door in the middle of the night, the last thing he expected to see was his parabatai in desperate need of his big brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adapt

**Author's Note:**

> Good evening guys - it's midnight so I suppose it's actually morning! - so I was just watching Nine Months and I got inspired to write this... whatever this is  
> It was originally just a one off, but if you guys like it and want me to continue it I can try, I've got a couple of ideas!
> 
> As always, leave me some feedback, and you can always reach me on tumblr [here](http://gleeksfreaksandwannabes.tumblr.com), I would actually really love messages too!

Alec was unceremoniously yanked out of a peaceful sleep by a harsh knocking on the front door.

"God, who the hell is that?" came a grumble from the lump of blankets that was Magnus "Don't they know we just got Max to sleep again?!"

"Probably not," Alec was glad for the darkness hiding his smirk as he rested a gentle hand on the lump "I'll get it," he chose to ignore the grumbling behind him as he made his way out into the living area and to the front door, opening it to reveal a rather disheveled looking Jace.  
  
His brother's hair was sticking up at all angles from where he had run anxious hands through it, and from the rumpled state of his clothes it was clear that he hadn't slept.

"You look terrible," Alec blurted, earning an eye roll from his brother.  
  
"Thanks," Jace said flatly "sorry for barging in like this, but I need to talk to you,"

"Is there a particular reason that you've woken us up at this ungodly hour?" came Magnus' voice from the bedroom doorway, and the two parabatai's watched him march over to meet them "Are you aware, Jace Herondale, that we have a toddler who is teething and growing the beginnings of warlock horns, and a five year old who's only just stopped having nightmares?" Magnus asked sharply, rubbing at his temples "And that you banging on our door at god knows when is interrupting Alexander's and my first and possibly only good nights' sleep!"

"I'm sorry Magnus," Jace said, a slight hurry to his voice "I just-- couldn't sleep,"

"Then might I suggest a glass of warm milk, perhaps a night cap?" Alec elbowed his partner in the ribs pointedly before addressing his parabatai,

"Come in. Don't mind him, he gets cranky when he hasn't slept, kind of like Max," he didn't catch the look of blasphemous protest on Magnus' face as he lead them both out of the doorway into the living area, where he and Jace sat down on the couch and Magnus perched himself on the armrest behind Alec,

"What's going on, why can't you sleep?" it was amazing, Jace thought, the difference in Alec since they had first met. Where Alec had been guarded at first, unwilling to talk about anything to do with emotions or anything that might be personal - Jace supposed he understood that now, given his brother's struggle with being himself - he was now looking at Jace with a gentle expectancy, his warm hazel eyes like a pair of arms waiting to let him in and embrace him. Alec was supportive and open in a way he had never been before he had met Magnus, before they had had their sons, back when Alec was a totally different person. Jace had trusted him implicitly back then, just as he did now, but it always warmed his heart to see Alec so open about everything, so unafraid of sharing too much or being uncomfortable. He had grown up, just like they all had.

"Clary's pregnant," there was suddenly crying coming from the nursery, and Alec watched Jace's posture stiffen as he looked towards the sound.

"It's Max again," Magnus murmured in Alec's ear "I'll get him,"

"Well that's got to be some kind of omen, right?" Jace said, the nervous tremor in his otherwise casual tone undetectable to anyone except his parabatai.

"You don't believe in omens," Alec stated plainly "Jace, isn't this a good thing? Haven't you wanted this since we found Max?" Jace hesitated, dropping his gaze to his stele as he twirled it between his fingers. He had had it in his hands since Alec answered the door to him.

"I thought I did," he began slowly "but now that's it's actually happening, it's... real,"

"Very good Jace, things that actually happen are real," said Magnus irritably as he re-entered the room carrying a now sleeping Max, and it was a testament to Jace's nerves that he didn't roll his eyes or remark back "Rafael is having nightmares again love," Magnus said to Alec "I can settle him, but can you take Max? He should be out to it by now,"

"Sure," Alec murmured, taking their son from Magnus' arms before the warlock left the room again. He repositioned Max in his arms, "OK, so it's really happening, is there something so wrong with that?"

"No, I guess not," Jace slowed his twirling of the stele "and we're meant to have children young, right? That's how we're supposed to be,"

"Right," Alec deadpanned.

"But what if we are too young? I mean I know Clary said she wasn't ready, and we only just got married-- do you think we're too young?"

"You're talking to the wrong sibling," Alec said, a hint of a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips "maybe talk to the one who didn't adopt two kids before they turned 30,"

"Yeah but you're meant to be a father," Jace told him "I mean, look at you," Alec drew his eyebrows together, looking up at Jace, who was raising an eyebrow at him. He looked down, the tension melting from his face as he watched Max clutch at his hand in his sleep, sucking on his own little blue thumb.

"Ok, you have a point," the hint of a smile was still on Alec's face as he looked from his son to his brother "but you were always great with Max and Izzy, and you're great with both our boys, what's making you so freaked out?" Jace hesitated for a moment, his eyes on his twirling stele before looking up to his brother,

"I guess-- Clary's really worried, she said she didn't expect to have kids so soon, and she's scared of telling her parents. She said she doesn't know if she'll be any good at being a mother--" Alec cut him off with a soft chuckle,

"She's making you worry," he said "just like she always does, and it makes sense. You love her, and you want her to be happy, but right now she's nervous, so you're nervous that this isn't what she wants, or what you want. Don't you remember Magnus when we first found Max? He didn't even know if he wanted to adopt him, but eventually he fell in love with being a father, now he's amazing at it. And that was a baby abandoned on the Academy doorstep, you and Clary have almost nine months to prepare for this baby; you're both going to be amazing parents Jace, even if it seems like it's all too much now. Life just happens like that, sometimes you get thrown a curveball, and you adapt, and most of the time it turns out for the better, and you find yourself wondering what you were so scared of in the first place," he was gently sifting his fingers through Max's navy curls as he spoke, the adoration sparkling in his eyes as he spoke of his family, and Jace couldn't help but smile as a sense of calm settled in his chest. Alec was right, as usual, this was what he wanted, to be almost exactly where his brother was now, holding a little piece of himself and Clary, the missing piece of their family.

"How did you get to be so wise?" he asked, the same gentle smile that Alec always wore slipping onto his face,

"I've always been this wise," Alec said, returning the gesture "you were just too stubborn to notice it until now. It also comes with the whole being a father thing," he winked "you'll see,"


End file.
